Air-valve for radiators.



PATENTED MAY 26, 1908.

P. W. LEUTHESSER. AIR VALVE PoR RADIATORS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 7. 1907.

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FRED W. LEUTHESSER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

AIR-VALVE FOR RADIATOR/S.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 26, 1908.

Original application led. August 6, 1906, Serial No. 329,285. Divided and this application filed March 7, 1907.

Serial No.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED W. LEUTHnssER, a citizenl of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Air-Valves for Radiators, of which the following is a specification, the same being a division of application, Serial No. 329,285, filed August 6, 1906, and

relating to valves of the general style shown in my copending application No. 329,057.

The system of heating, which is generally termed or known as the radiator system, and which uses as the heating medium steam in connection with radiators, also uses an air valve for the radiator to control the admission of steam and the venting of air. The cooling of the radiator tends to cause water of condensation to form in the valve and make a water seal between the radiator and valve, which will interfere with the correct operation of the valve in admitting steam and venting air.

rIhe object of the present invention is to construct and apply to an air valve for radiators a drainage or draw-olf stem which will be effective and reliable in use for the purpose of removing or drawing off from the chamber of the valve any water of condensation, and which will allow sediment or other foreign material to escape and clear the passage between the radiator and the valve, so that the passage cannot become clogged or stopped.

The invention consists in the features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims as new.

In the drawings Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of an air valve for radiators, showing the drainage or draw-ofi stem or tube; Fig. 2 a cross-section through the attaching nipple and the drainage or cut-off stem or tube; Fig. 3 a perspective view of the drainage or draw-off tube; and Fig. 4 a detail in section of the base or lower end of an air valve, showing a modification in the means for retaining the drainage or draw-off stem or tube in the nipple.

The air valve in the construction shown has a base or cup 1 inclosing a chamber 2, and the base or cup has a nipple 3 on one side, with a passage 4 extending through the nipple and the wall of the base or cup. The .nipple furnishes the means by which the air valve is attached to or connected with the radiator, and the passage 4 furnishes communication between the chamber of the air valve and the interior of the radiator for the passage of air and steam between the radiator and valve, as is usual for the type of air valves shown.

rIhe drainage or draw-off stem 5 is bent into shape so as to have a depending member 6 and a horizontal member 7, the horizontal member, when the drainage or draw-off stem is in position, being located in the passage 4 of the nipple, with a clearance between the stem and the walls of the nipple on the up er side of the stem. The stein is of tubular formation and is made out of wire screening or similar foraminous material, which provides capillary holes or openings S, which serve to furnish cross channels leading to the interior passage of the stem, which arrangement serves to facilitate and increase the flow of water from the valve to a greater eX- tent than if the stem were solid or of impervious tubular formation. Furthermore, the formation of the stem renders it more or less fieXible, which is a feature of importance in view of the fact that the space within the radiator, adapted for the reception of the stem, may be of greater or less width, and the somewhat flexible nature of the stem ermits the depending member thereof to a( apt itself to varying conditions as they exist in radiators of different styles and sizes. The stem in the arrangement shown in Fig. 1 has, at the extreme inner end of the horizontal portion, a ring or collar which abuts against the end wall of the nipple or wall of the chamber 2, and serves to hold and retain the stem in position against withdrawal, so that when in position the member 6 of the stem will hang downward and the member 7 will lie in horizontal osition. The valve has on the upper side o the base or cup an annular wall or flange 10, with an interior screw thread which furnishes a socket or suitable size to receive the threaded lower end of the outer shell or casing l1 of the valve, and the valve has an expansible member or stem 12 secured in lace, so as to stand upright within the Sheff or casing, by a pin or stud 13 upwardly projecting from the bottom of the base or cup 1 of the valve. The valve shown is of that type which employs a float 14 operating within the chamber of the shell or casing and encircling the expansible member or stem on which the upper end of the float rests as usual. The upper end of the shell or casing 11 has a neck 15 with a closing cap 16, in which neck is located a valve seat for a pin valve carried by the iloat 14, the seat and pin valve being of the usual construction, and therefore not shown.

The modification shown in Fig. 4, instead of having a ring or collar 9, for retaining the drainage or draw-olif spout in position, has the inner end of the stem entered in a band 17 extending out from which, on opposite sides, are arms or bars 18, each having a proj ection 19 with a squared shoulder. The arms or bars 1S, with the shoulder projections 19, constitute a spring catch or forli, which can be inserted in the passage 4 of the nipple, and, when inserted, the side arms or bars will return to normal position and serve to bring the shoulders of the`projections 19 into engagement with the end wall of the nipple so as to retain the stem in its inserted position.

The valve heretofore shown serves merely for purposes of illustration, since it is obvious that the draw-oil' stem or tube can be positioned within the nipples of valves of different construction without in any way changing the character or mode of operation of the stem or tube. The moisture, by capillary attraction, will accumulate on the exterior of the stem, and will, in iinely divided particles, find its way through the capillary openings into the interior channel of the stem, through which a flow of water will be started, by means of which the valve will be drained. The stem is of lesser diameter than the nipple into which it is inserted and does not in any way interfere with the passage of air through the nipple and the discharge of the air from the valve. The tubular hollow stem, by its exterior and interior faces, serves as a conductor and drainer for discharging the water, and the surface presented is clean and clear, so that the water can flow readily thereover and no sediment or particles of foreign matter can adhere to an extent that would serve to clog or partially close the passage in the nipple and iinpede the outflow of water of condensation.

The stem being somewhat flexible can, if

necessary, be straightened out sufliciently to permit its entrance into the hole in the radiator during the attachment of the valve nipple thereto, and thereafter the natural resiliency of the wire screening will cause the outer end portion of the stem to assume its proper depending position Vwithin the radiator and accommodate itself to the space provided therein. This permits a single stem to be used in connection with radiators of varying internal dimensions.

What 1 regard as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an air valve for radiators, the combination of a casing with a laterally projecting screw-threaded nipple for attachment of the valve to the radiator, and a drainage or draw off tubular stein, formed of wire screening and comprising a horizontal member entered through the nipple, and terminating at its outer end in a depending member adapted to hang down within the interior of the radiator, the tubular stem having the necessary flexibility to permit it to be sufficiently straightened out in attaching the valve to the radiator to permit the entrance of the screw threaded nipple, and having sufficient resiliency to resume its proper shape after the nipple has been screwed into place, substantially as described.

2. 1n an air valve for radiators, the combination of a casing with a laterally projecting screw-threaded nipple for attachment of the valve to the radiator, and a drainage or draw off tubular stem, of foraminous formation and comprising a horizontal member entered through the nipple, and terminating at its outer end in a depending` member adapted to hang down within the interior of the radiator, the tubular stem having thc necessary flexibility to permit it to be sufliciently straightened out, in attaching the valve to the radiator, to permit the entrance of the screw-threaded nipple, and having sufficient resiliency to resume its proper shape after the nipple has been screwed into place, substantially as described.

FRED W. LEUTHESSER..

Witnesses:

SAMUEL W. BANNING, WALKER BANNING. 

